Letters to the Editor

The one-state solution

By Richard Hansen

Posted:
01/17/2013 04:24:04 PM MST

Updated:
01/17/2013 04:25:35 PM MST

The genesis of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict lies in the deeds of the colonial powers after the First World War and the folly of Arab leadership. For centuries the Jews and Arabs lived together in relative peace in a land called Palestine. With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the French and British divided up the Middle East without regard to ethnic or cultural realities. These created mandates were nothing more than haphazard expansion of empire. The region is still living with those artificial boundaries and suffering from those decisions!

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 suggested the Jews should have their own state in Palestine, but it really was a desperate appeal by the British to the Rothschild banking interests for financial support during World War I. Hitler's ethnic cleansing only accelerated this Jewish migration and reinforced world acceptance for the establishment of a religious state in Palestine.

With the United Nations partition plan for Palestine approved in late 1947, the land was to be divided into two proposed states, with 61 percent of the land for a Jewish state and 39 percent of the land for a non-Jewish state. According to the Peel Commission (1937), the Jewish community of Palestine only represented 15 percent of the Palestine population.

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A Palestinian leader, Amin Al-Husayni, was influential in rejecting the partition, one of the great follies of this disastrous period. The Zionists accepted the partition and Al-Husayni rejected it, believing they could easily defeat the Jews. The Palestinian activists would spend the next 40 plus years trying to obtain this partition. That rejection of the partition is one of the absurdities of the present-day situation. It is also certain that stability of the Middle East in general cannot be obtained without a resolution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The proposed two-- or three-state solutions will not change the divisive nature of the conflict.

The irony of history is that the injustice done to the Jews was imposed upon the Palestinians. No code of morality can justify the persecution of one people in an attempt to relieve the persecution of another. The cure for the eviction of Jews from Europe is not to be sought in the eviction of the Arabs from their homeland. The magnetic appeal for Jews the world over to have their own religious state has forced a terrible price on the Palestinian people.

The United States and its allies, particularly the Israelis, are simply participating in the destruction of the Palestinian people. How can the United States be seen by the Middle East community as a neutral party interested in peace when it supplies and supports the Israelis unconditionally? When will the Jewish tragedy finally be put to rest by the American people in the interest of world peace and justice?

Of all the people in the world, the Israelis should know about the suffering and distress of ghetto confinement. Terrorism is a word of convenience; it all depends on who is in control. There was a time when the British considered Israeli activist groups like Haganan, Irgun and the Stern Gang to be terrorist groups. Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was considered a terrorist by the British and they issued wanted posters for his capture!

The Palestinian/Israeli struggle is complex and emotional. The true irony of the conflict is that it is fueled by both the Zionist on one side and the Arab extremist on the other side. The common people on both sides only want to live a peaceful and prosperous life, but they are forced to bear most of the suffering caused by the hatred and need for revenge by the religious ideologues on both sides.

It is my opinion (although neither side would agree) that there is only one solution for a lasting resolution to the conflict and would help stabilize the entire Middle East region. If Israel annexed the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, making them economically and socially responsible for those areas, the Palestinians could be significantly better off than now. The idea would be for the Palestinians to assimilate with the Israelis into a one-nation state with shared values and goals. It would change it into a human rights issue and not this senseless religious conflict. The United States could broker this concept and guarantee our continued support only if they form a unified nation with equal opportunities. The United States' image in the Middle East would be greatly improved and it would quickly bring an end to the war on terror!

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story